Re: Comment on timezone and interval types

On Nov 5, 2004, at 5:38 PM, Stuart Bishop wrote:

> Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> | On Fri, Oct 29, 2004 at 11:14:31 -0600,
> | Guy Fraser <guy(at)incentre(dot)net> wrote:
> |
> |>1 day should always be calculated as 24 hours, just as an hour
> |>is calculated as 60 minutes...
> |
> |
> | If you want 24 hours you can use 24 hours. Days are not constant
> length,
> | just like months aren't constant length.
>
> Days *are* of constant length - check your nearest dictionary, which
> will define it as 24 hours or the period of rotation of the earth. If
> people see 'day', they think '24 hours' because that is the definition
> they have been using since preschool. This breeds sleeping bugs that
> nobody notices until the DST transition kicks in and events happen an
> hour late or not at all.
>
> What you are talking about is useful, but should be called calendar_day
> or something that makes it obvious that it isn't using the traditional
> definition.

Could you expand on this a bit? I'm not quite sure what you're getting
at. I think most people would say the period from noon one day until
noon the next would be 1 day. If that day spans a DST change, it will
definitely not be 24 hours, and people might agree if they're asked "is
the period from noon til noon over DST 24 hours?". They'd most likely
say no, I think. Yet, if they're asked if the same period is one day, I
think they'd answer yes. I think this is what Bruno is getting at.

Regards,

Michael Glaesemann
grzm myrealbox com